…and Sour

On Monday, I posted the Sweets of our trip to PA and promised to add the Sours in a day or two. I confess that I was all ready to unload a litany of sours on Tuesday. However, something, or better Someone stopped me. Have you seen those cartoons where the character is running full speed, but someone bigger has their hand on the little character’s forehead and although his arms and legs are spinning, he’s going nowhere? That’s kinda what God did to me. I was spitting and sputtering in my head about all these sours, and God just planted His big ol’ hand on my forehead and said, “Woah.”

He has given me permission to state a couple of sours, mostly because I’m sure you’re curious now, but I’m not to elaborate.

Sour #1: On Monday we had to put our nearly 14 year old cat to sleep. If I’m to be honest, I don’t really care for cats all that much, but Ruddie was special and we will miss him terribly, especially when we are doing school.

Here’s the deal…one sour was just plain sad and the other was a terrible dissapointment, but in the scheme of things, they aren’t as sour as they could have been. In each case, there are things for which I am thankful. When I was planning my original Sour post on Tuesday, God led me to Isaiah 30:20 “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying “This is the way, walk in it.”

God never promised to just give me roses in this life. He will give me thorns too and today I’m thanking Him for the thorns. I have a choice; I can complain about the Sours that happen every day or I can thank God for them and choose to learn something. He promises my “teachers will be hidden no more.” I need to remember that while there will always be Sweets and Sours, my sours always contain Grace Lessons.

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;…Blessed are all who wait for Him.” Isaiah 30:18